By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

SLIDELL — Riverside hit the ground running at Northshore in a spring scrimmage last weekend, the Rebels’ first and second teams outscoring the Panthers four touchdowns to one to claim an unofficial victory.

“It felt good,” said Riverside coach Bill Stubbs, who enters his third offseason with the team. “We’ve put in a relatively new offense and we’ve had nine days to do it. I felt our guys had a good grip on it. We moved the ball well. The backs had a good day. The wide receivers had a very, very good day.”

While the addition of new offensive coordinator Shane Bohrer, formerly of Brother Martin, has led to some offensive tweaking, some very familiar names stood out at the scrimmage. Wide receiver Herb McGee hauled in a pair of touchdowns, both from quarterback Deuce Wallace. Both players will be juniors entering their third season starting together this fall. 

Stubbs was also pleased with the way some of the team’s younger receivers stepped up, specifically eighth graders Jalen Banks and Jared Butler. Darrion Cook, slated to return as the team’s third receiver behind McGee and Von Julien, was another standout.

“Darrion stepped up real big,” said Stubbs. “Our running backs did a nice job running and catching. I thought we showed a ton of balance.”

Defensively, Stubbs was encouraged by the play of defensive tackle Thaddeus Andry, who recovered two fumbles during the game. 

“He’s got a lot of tools,” said Stubbs of the 6’3”, 255-pound sophomore. “It’s just a matter of pulling them out the tool belt. He’s starting to go to work. He’s decided to start playing to his talent level.”

Inside linebacker Harrison Heckathorn and defensive back Kendall Martin are two others who have grabbed Stubbs’ attention, adding to a defense anchored by players like end Joe Anderson, tackle Richie George and outside linebacker Evan Veron.

“JuJuan Bell will also be very, very good for us,” Stubbs said of his defensive back. “We’ve got guys running to the ball and putting on some licks.”

Tailback Hardell Mack also scored twice for the Rebels.

Northshore’s lone score came on a 62-yard touchdown pass in the first half of the scrimmage.

“The receiver got behind the safety there,” Stubbs said. “Outside of that play, I felt pretty good about the day.

“We have to understand it’s a long, long process. But playing the way we did, it felt really good.”